A new study reports that elevated levels of blood mercury are associated with an increased prevalence of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC).The most common human malignancy, NMSC has continued to rise in incidence in recent years. A better understanding of risk factors, including blood mercury levels, is needed in order to aid in prevention and improve patient outcomes. While a number of epidemiological studies have investigated the link between cancer risk and occupational exposure to mercury, litt...

Combination BRAF/MEK inhibitors such as encorafenib/binimetinib are the current standard of care for patients with BRAF V600-mutant melanoma. Until now, however, the long-term efficacy of encorafenib/binimetinib had not been established. In an updated analysis of the phase 3 COLUMBUS trial, a team of researchers led by Paolo Ascierto, MD, Director of the Unit of Melanoma, Cancer Immunotherapy, and Innovative Therapy at the National Tumor Institute Fondazione G. Pascale in Naples, Italy, found th...

​Many patients with cancer experience infections requiring treatment. However, David Pinato, MD, MRes, PhD, and colleagues recently found that in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, and other tumor types, broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment administered within 30 days prior to the commencement of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy dramatically worsened overall survival (2 vs 26 months) and increased the risk of treatment-refractory disease. In this interview with i3 Heal...

An observational study reports that broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment administered within 30 days prior to the commencement of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy dramatically worsens overall survival and increases the risk of treatment-refractory disease.Published in JAMA Oncology, the prospective cohort study conducted at two tertiary academic referral centers enrolled 196 patients with cancer receiving immune checkpoint therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (119 patients), melanoma (38 pat...

In addition to the known cancer risks associated with consumption of red and processed meats, a new study warns of an increased cancer risk from poultry."The latest meta-analysis from the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research concluded that red meat was a probable cause and processed meat a convincing cause of colorectal cancer," write the researchers in their presentation abstract in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, led by first author Anika Knüppel,...